Monotype Research Finds Creative Teams Spend Over a Quarter of Their Time on Non-Creative Work

• New multi-country survey reveals operational inefficiencies, compliance risks, and untapped technology ROI — with font management emerging as mission-critical to creative operations.

WOBURN, Mass., Sept. 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Monotype Imaging Inc., a global leader in type and technology, today announced the findings of its Scaling Creative Operations survey, a study of more than 1,000 creative professionals across industries and geographies. Co-authored with Extensis (a Monotype company), the report highlights how creative operations and font management have become strategic imperatives, as teams struggle to balance growing content demands with efficiency, compliance, and creative excellence.

The study found that 57% of creative teams spend more than a quarter of their time on non-creative tasks, such as font and asset management, compliance checks, and workflow bottlenecks — a costly misallocation of human capital that undermines innovation and business impact.

"Digital transformation has fundamentally reshaped the creative landscape," said Bernie Gracy, Chief Digital Officer at Monotype and Managing Director at Extensis. "As content demands grow and AI adoption accelerates, organizations need systematic creative operations that reduce inefficiency, protect against risk, and unlock creative capacity."

Gracy continued, "Take font management — once a simple IT task, 82% of teams now rate it as critical to their creative operations. This evolution perfectly illustrates how operational excellence has become inseparable from creative success."

Key Findings From the Report:

• Operational Inefficiency: Organizations struggle with workflow bottlenecks across multiple areas. 42% of respondents cite font version control as a challenge, illustrating how seemingly simple tasks create significant operational friction.
   
• Compliance and Risk: Creative teams face complex compliance challenges, with font licensing complexity affecting 68% of surveyed organizations as just one example of broader compliance gaps.
   
• Untapped Technology ROI: While 62% of surveyed organizations using AI and automation report boosts in both efficiency and creativity, adoption remains uneven. Challenges such as technical complexity and cost concerns are slowing progress, preventing many teams from fully unlocking the potential of innovative tools.
   
• Strategic Infrastructure: Creative teams now recognize that operational tools are foundational business infrastructure. This shift is evident in areas like font management, where 82% of respondents consider it essential to operations.

The report highlights the transformative impact of effective creative operations, with 88% of organizations with dedicated creative operations roles rating themselves as effective at balancing creativity with business needs. Further, the research reveals a shift in how organizations view creative operations — from back-office support to strategic infrastructure. By implementing structured workflows, compliance measures, and integrated technologies, organizations can reclaim up to 35% of creative time, reduce compliance risks, and improve ROI on creative projects.

"Creative operations isn't about constraining creativity — it's about enabling it at scale," added Gracy. "The organizations that thrive will be those that balance creative brilliance with operational excellence."

About the Report
The Scaling Creative Operations Report surveyed 1,008 creative professionals across the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany in April 2025. Respondents included creative directors, operations managers, design managers, and team leads across technology, media, retail, financial services, and more.

Learn more and download the full report here.

About Monotype 
Monotype creates brands that matter with type, technology, and expertise. The company partners with designers and creative teams worldwide to deliver fonts, tools, and services that enable impactful storytelling and scalable creativity. 

Further information is available at www.monotype.com. Follow Monotype on X, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Media Contacts 
Charlotte Simcock
Head Corporate Communications & PR for Monotype – Global
[email protected]

Brynne Hitten
ThoughtLDR for Monotype – UK
[email protected] 

Stephanie Hernandez
ThoughtLDR for Monotype – US
[email protected] 

Tanja Koschade
KOSCHADE PR for Monotype – DACH
[email protected]

SOURCE Monotype